{"id":1126,"date":"2026-01-15T10:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T15:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mountainindivisible.org\/news\/?p=1126"},"modified":"2026-02-09T13:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T18:30:10","slug":"2026-qa-with-shane-vance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mountainindivisible.org\/news\/2026\/01\/15\/2026-qa-with-shane-vance\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Written Q&A with Shane Vance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The following are questions sent to Shane Vance<\/a>, candidate for Mitchell County Sheriff by Jeanne Troeller Sabo, member of Mountain Indivisible followed by his replies to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeanne Troeller Sabo:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. What is your general philosophy on law enforcement, and how does it differ from the current administration and your opponent?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. If a member of your department is accused of misconduct or excessive force, what is your specific protocol for ensuring a fair and transparent investigation?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. What role should the sheriff’s office play in addressing community-wide issues like the addiction or mental health emergencies?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. What is your policy regarding cooperation with federal immigration authorities (ICE), particularly concerning detainers and access to county jails?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. How will you balance your duty to enforce the law with the need to protect the First Amendment and other constitutional rights of citizens?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. You are a registered republican as is the other candidate. As someone with a liberal mindset, what would set you apart from the other candidate for me?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Shane Vance:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    General Philosophy on Law Enforcement:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In <\/a>2001 when I began, Law Enforcement did not face near the scrutiny we do today. The peak of social media had not started yet. My philosophy of law enforcement from day one is to SERVE. I have always been different than most officers. I tend to be over empathetic. Other officers took that as a weakness. But in my mind it was not a weakness. It was building trust with citizens, even those I had to arrest. I always felt, why make the job harder by being overbearing or confrontational? The end result is justice. Deescalate a situation, why make it harder? Some, not all officers go in with an attitude. I am the opposite. We need this mindset and professionalism more than ever these days. As we are seen as the \u201c bad guys\u201d. I have nothing negative to say about my opponent. I\u2019m sure he feels the same pressures and stress as I do. I cannot speak for him. I can\u2019t assume what is in his heart. I only know my own. My stance and platform has always been to get drugs off of the streets. After seeing revolving doors of the justice system. I still want to get drugs off the streets. I can be tough on drugs. I despise drugs and would be an advocate for rehabilitation services. I have nothing negative to say about the current administration. I\u2019m running purely on my intentions for change, vision of change, and plans for change. Trying to do so without belittling or causing dirty politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In twenty-four years I have witnessed a small amount of misconduct. But have always reported such to supervisors. Or other officers has reported it. These officers are no longer officers. It was three in my career. And I have worked at and with other agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    That being said; as Sheriff, if such misconduct, excessive force and ethical issue arose in the department. I would have the NCSBI investigate the allegations. An outside agency with no bias. If they conclude the allegations are true. I would terminate the employee. There is no room for that in this profession. That would be standard protocol. This would be transparent, that I would not cover \u201c the good ole boy, or buddy system ways\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Federal immigration authorities and (ICE)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The state has adopted the detainer policy. As you may or may not know. We house inmates at McDowell County Jail. The detainer policy is explicit to certain crimes. Such as Domestic Violence, and assaults and felony crimes. This was also in place under several administrations. As Sheriff, you must follow the detainer rules. I am for law abiding immigrants. If they are contributing to society, paying taxes, and being law abiding citizens, who are they bothering? I have issues with drug smugglers, and cartel members. And those that break the law. Yes, if they do not have a work visa, green card, or other, they have broken the law to get into the country. But our own government opened the door and caused the issue. Is our government to blame? Or the people that were allowed to come in freely? Either way, the government needs to fix the situation, by getting the bad ones out. If people have overstayed visas or have been deported and returned. The government has a mess to clean up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    First amendment rights:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As an officer you swear to protect the constitution. The constitution is to protect the people. The oath you take, should be the most important thing you do as an officer. I believe that oath is the most important thing. First amendment rights to free speech. Goes both ways. Regardless of agreement or political stance. We as society need to learn to agree to disagree without hate. In my career I\u2019ve never had to intervene in a peaceful protest. That being said, burning city\u2019s and damaging property is never ok. Political violence is never ok. 2nd amendment rights. I am a strong advocate for that. A sheriff plays a major role in concealed carry permits and background checks. This will always be done correctly and taken seriously. Illegal searches and seizures. That is a strong point in Law Enforcement. We must always respect the right of people and their property. Follow constitutional laws to obtain search warrants and other searches. Always keeping citizen\u2019s rights in mind. A dirty cop is worse than any criminal in my opinion. Because we hold the burden of the oath and to uphold it. Miranda and 5th amendment. This is a fundamental part of our jobs. It is LEO 101. I could go on and on through each amendment and explain how each is important. To put it short, each amendment has its importance. And I\u2019d never allow or violate the protections of the people. In 24 years I\u2019ve never been accused of such. Which says a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I am a member of the NC Sheriff\u2019s Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Lastly, that is a very tough question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Like I said earlier, I can only speak for me. I can\u2019t read his heart or mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For me, a Sheriff is for all the people of the county. Regardless of race, religion, or political affiliation. Treating people fairly and equally is my stand point. Regardless of sexual orientation, who someone chooses to love or partner with, is not my business. A Sheriff should treat all as equal. For the scales of justice say this. Personal feelings should not affect justice. Fair, equal, and consistent. No one could complain if this is established.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The following are questions sent to Shane Vance, candidate for Mitchell County Sheriff by Jeanne Troeller Sabo, member of Mountain Indivisible followed by his replies to date. Jeanne Troeller Sabo: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1142,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-1126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mountainindivisible.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Handcuffs.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainindivisible.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainindivisible.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainindivisible.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainindivisible.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainindivisible.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1126"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mountainindivisible.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1200,"href":"https:\/\/mountainindivisible.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1126\/revisions\/1200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainindivisible.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainindivisible.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainindivisible.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainindivisible.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1126"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainindivisible.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=1126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}